[RACING LINE]

I've had a big box of straights set aside for a 1/32 drag strip for some time. The big problem has been finding somewhere to run it as I decided it had to be exactly to scale which meant 41.25 feet plus a substantial run off. Well last weekend I cleaned 36 of the straights for the blacktop and had brief use of a village hall to run some tests. On this occasion we didn't bother with timing as I was really testing how much fun it would be running the cars down a length of track where they could really find their top speed (something that is not possible on our usual club track). Despite the reduction in driver skill required compared to circuit racing it was actually really exciting for both racers and spectators, in our club racing classes we make a special effort to make sure that the performance of our cars reflect their real life counterparts. These differences were just as evident on the scale 1/4 mile and surprisingly being first off the start line didn't guarantee a win.

Drag strips have been done many times before I know, but I thought I would share it here because I can now confirm that a slot car drag strip is definitely not boring, in fact I am quite excited about it! When I originally set aside the track pieces, the intention was to have the drag strip as a side show at one of our Saturday Special open days, now I am going to organise dedicated drag racing events for our club. Initially I hope to use ARC Air for the timing as the App has a drag racing mode with some decent stats.

So watch this space for some photos and videos very soon.

 

[portals999]

So that's 36 standard straights then the run-off, very nice, looking forward to seeing some pics/vids of it running!

I can see it being quite a lot of fun if you have a lot of cars and collating a list of fastest cars in straight line.

I'm going to have a bash at a drag strip too, you have inspired me, I reckon I must have between 50-60 unused straights kicking about at home, we also have a long hall that runs in to the living room so end-2-end I reckon that cannot be far of 50-55 feet in total length ;-)

I won't be buying Arc so will need to look in to another way of doing the timing, I might be able to re-purpose slingshot's Arduino timer that I built ages ago as it's been redundant since I got an APB

cheers

 

[RACING LINE]

Exactly, we have so many cars between club members, a first past the post eliminator will be loads of fun with or without timing. I learnt today that the official drag racing term for the run off area is shutdown. In order to ensure that there was no power in the shutdown zone I just removed the metal pins from the ends of the rails and made sure there was a 2mm gap, I think there were another 8 straights in this section at the end of which I positioned a cardboard box with foam at the back and polystyrene packing noodles at the front which made for a lively finish.

 

[dungeonracer]

In order to ensure that there was no power in the shutdown zone I just removed the metal pins from the ends of the rails and made sure there was a 2mm gap,

This is a good idea, as sometimes people "forget" to let off...

But you can take it a step further. Keep the shutdown area free of the power supply, and simply connect the 2 rails of each lane together with a piece of wire underneath. Doing this will create a "short circuit" when a car comes into the shutdown, and will actually give the car full brakes and make them stop much quicker.

 

[Dave D Stevens]

140 mph actual speed on a scale slot drag strip................

http://www.hotrod.com/articles/hot-rod-anything-140-mph-slot-car-drag-racing/

 

[GRUNZ]

I have never raced on the slot dragstrip here in auckland.

But what I have heard is that it is not just about who is going to finish first, but is more about being able to finish within a specific time that you choose.

I think that even with the APB should be possible to support a drag race mode with the support of the RMS.

 

[RACING LINE]

That's bracket racing Gio, a sort of class/handicap system, we won't be doing that. Our first event is going to be a first past the post eliminator with penalties for jump starts. Once we have the data on the club fleet we can then decide on classes for the future which will most likely be

18k Mag

18k Non mag

18k Trucks

18k F1/LMP

18k 4 X 4

22k Open

 

[portals999]

I just measured the distance from the front door in hall to far wall of living room, it's just over 45 feet so I might need to invest in a *LOT* of noodles

It did occur to me cpl yrs ago after buying my first Platinum Set that I had loads of spare straights but I didn't want to grub them up as thought about just punting them new/split unused - but they're so ubiquitous on fleabay that at end of day that seems like more hassle/trips to PO.....so....drag strip it is!

I've got a big brown drinking voucher on myself that the F1's will win hands down, but really who knows until tried. If interested members here setup one too and all were kept to same number of straight (36?) plus whatever shutdown (

) then it could be quite interesting (and a bit of fun) to see what the trends are, I'm also wondering how mag vs non-mag will pan out, if track is completely level with the ground then I'd assume magless has an edge? Guess we'll find out soon enough

 

[portals999]

Keep the shutdown area free of the power supply, and simply connect the 2 rails of each lane together with a piece of wire underneath. Doing this will create a "short circuit" when a car comes into the shutdown, and will actually give the car full brakes and make them stop much quicker.

Really? I didn't know that.

So no power and shorting the braids on analog cars activates full brakes, can you explain some more?

 

[dungeonracer]

When an electric motor in a slot car is coasting, it is also generating some voltage. This is how dead strips can send a signal to lap counters.

By connecting the 2 rails, it creates a "short" when the car is coasting, and the motor stops quicker. If you study a slot car track wiring diagram, you'll see that is all any 3 wire controller is doing, creating a "short" when the brakes are applied. A 2 wire controller (such as the earlier Scalextric controllers) never creates this "short", and why those controllers never have much braking power.

That's the best way I can explain it. I'm sure (actually, I know) there are more technical savvy people here that can explain it better than I just did.

 

[GRUNZ]

That's bracket racing Gio, a sort of class/handicap system, we won't be doing that. Our first event is going to be a first past the post eliminator with penalties for jump starts. Once we have the data on the club fleet we can then decide on classes for the future which will most likely be

I see. I thought that it was the only format for slot drag racing.

 

[RACING LINE]

portals I am happy to partake in a drag racing league, but I would rather stick to blueprint tuning of box standard cars otherwise the ultimate destination is the 140mph cars in David D's link. I have only run brief tests and can confirm magless has less drag but they also wheelspin and jump out of the slot so it will be interesting. A light F1 with a 22k motor has to be the stock favourite but I plan to have as much fun as I can proving or disproving that theory. The biggest surprise in our test was a truck.

 

[GRUNZ]

In my backyard I could put together a 14 m long straight but then I would not have the shutdown...the car would simple slam on the fence.

 

[Dave D Stevens]

portals I am happy to partake in a drag racing league, but I would rather stick to blueprint tuning of box standard cars otherwise the ultimate destination is the 140mph cars in David D's link. I have only run brief tests and can confirm magless has less drag but they also wheelspin and jump out of the slot so it will be interesting. A light F1 with a 22k motor has to be the stock favourite but I plan to have as much fun as I can proving or disproving that theory. The biggest surprise in our test was a truck.

A couple of years ago at the Gaydon event the drag strip was set up with the view to having drag races for trucks. It was not well supported and I think that only Martin De'ath and myself actually turned up with trucks, I had a Tamiya Lunch Box Monster Truck with a pair of Parma 16d motors, A Tamiya Bull Head Truck fitted with a 46k motor and a old SCX truck with a Falcon motor fitted. The fastest truck turned out to be my SCX truck,
I can not remember the E.T. but the speed at the end of the course was 22mph.

 

[portals999]

140 mph actual speed on a scale slot drag strip................

http://www.hotrod.co...ar-drag-racing/

I have to admit I smiled at this:

Parachutes are handmade with minute rip cords, tethers, and chute bags; tiny turbos hide behind miniscule grilles and macaroni-sized, bull-horn exhausts shoot from bumpers left and right. Some guys have even recreated their own Drag Week machines, with small-scale likes of Jeff Lutz's Bel Air, Larry Larson's S-10, Bryant Goldstone's Javelin, Joe Barry's 210, Eric Yost's Camaro, and Shane McClelland's Crusty Nova duking it out any night of the week.

Ffs, it's taken me a month to work out how strip one decal of the bonnet of an old scaley porsche....

 

[RACING LINE]

Will shorting the track in the shutdown zone cause any issues for cars that have digital chips fitted? My first thought is that this braking technique might not work on chipped cars.

 

[Dave D Stevens]

 

[GRUNZ]

The shorting will not work with the chipped cars (because the motor is isolated from the track by the chip) and it will not cause any harm: I have used chipped cars on analog track with my analog controller (that shorten the track every time the throttle is released) and the chip had no issues: of course the chipped car was sluggish and with no brakes.

 

[Wobble]

I can't imagine what could or could not damage a chip but if you wanted to increase the effectiveness of the shut down zone you could try reverse powering it with a very low voltage. When I was a teen we used to solder in a 1.5v battery into the brake wire of our controllers to increase the brakes and I have sometimes thought of wiring a 1.5v battery into the wires of my Slot.It controller to make my cars faster.

 

[portals999]

40 straights and a few half straights, all systems go!

It's currently 36 straights in length, not much room for the shutdown...

Feckin Strictly is now on the telly so of course living room now out of bounds for noisy slot cars, testing will have to wait for time being.....

It's also quite difficult to get it perfectly straight as you can see in pic, shouldn't make much of a difference, need to start looking at how best to time cars.